Zoning Board of Appeals - Regular Meeting

Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all for all. Good evening. Welcome to the planning board meeting of January 8th, 2026. First on the agenda is Carmel Residential, 119 Seminar Hill Road. Mike, any comments? I did not. Same as last time. It's on for a seeker resolution, I believe.

Yes. Correct. Correct. And Rich, same as Mike and Pat. So, Mr. Chairman, as you you saw at the last meeting, the applicant slightly modified the plan. Um, we had previously adopted the negative declar the seeker negative declaration for this because the plan has changed. The negative declaration has to reflect that change. That's the document that you have before you this evening. I believe we're all familiar with the modification. Really had no impact on sewer, water, traffic. That being said, uh, any comments from the board? If not, we need a motion to adopt a secret neck.

Mr. Chairman, I'll offer the resolution of the planning board of the town of Caramel, number 26-1, January 8th, 2026, Carmel Residential, 119 Seminary Hill Road, Carmel Seeker, determination of significance, negative declaration. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you. So, next steps for us, um, we've addressed all the outstanding comments that we have with you guys. Um,

we had some minor comments go back to DO, Department of Health this morning, D this morning, ministerial cleanup, labeling, things like that. Nothing that affected the plans that are before you. Um, is it possible to have an approval resolution drafted for this? We would need to see what those departments have said, Zach. So pass that information along to us first. I think we would need to see just to confirm. I'm sure you're telling the truth, but we need to confirm that. Okay. You can get them to Rose and Rose can communicate and share them in Pat and we'll move on. Yeah. I'll forward you guys emails that were sent out. So we're we're at the end with them. We don't want to I don't want to trade paper back and forth with them. And typically when we get to the end with the DP and DO, you can send them PDFs of, you know, hey, here's your final changes. So sounds reasonable.

Okay.

Great. Next on the agenda tonight is People USA 1071 Stonley Avenue. It's for an amended site plan. Just for everybody in the audience, uh we we've had many public hearings on this. We've extended the public hearing a couple times. We also left open the written comments. So this tonight is just to uh listen to people USA responded to a lot of the board's comments which actually came from you. Uh good evening chairman. Rebecca Vog, law office of Rebecca Vog on behalf of People USA. Steve Mitchio, CEO of People USA is here with me as well as Rich Tomkins from Mory Architects. Uh we also have other representatives from People USA here in the audience. Um as the chair stated, we have submitted responses to the uh gathered questions that the board asked us to respond to and we submitted that document. The one item that does remain outstanding is we are having a traffic engineer study our location in Duchess County uh to do a uh analysis of what the anticipated traffic would be out of this facility which the town has agreed is classified as a professional office and we expect that information to come in by Tuesday of next week but given the holidays it was a little difficult to get a traffic engineer on on target. Okay, I understand.

Do you want to uh respond to the questions now? Uh, sure. I'd like everyone in the audience and on TV to hear the responses. Okay. You meant Putinham when you said the Well, they're studying and then they're going to do an extraction based upon because we serve a larger population there and then they're going to study the location here and determine what because we are a use that you can't just simply compare us to anything else. They're so they were actually there today counting cars in Duchess based upon the capacity there and it is a smaller population here in Putnham. So there's nothing in the in that guide book the engineering guide book for this type of use. There is but they're compare they're comparing it with their other use. Okay.

Yeah. Okay. Hi Steve Mitchio CEO of people uh people USA. Um they asked to they wanted the document the operational characteristics of the proposed facility and I'm just going to read it I guess is the best way to go. Sure. Okay. This is more this is I've read the document so it but I want the the residents and the people on TV watch it.

Okay. As part as per the part 600 regulations, a supportive crisis stabilization center means that provide uh a center that provides support and assistance to individuals with mental health or substance use crisis symptoms and who are experiencing challenges in daily life that create risk for an escalation of behavioral health symptoms that cannot reasonably be managed in the recipient's home and/or community environment without on-site supports and do not pose likelihood of serious harm. The center provides voluntary services for those who require support with an emphasis on peer and recovery services. Supportive crisis stabilization centers provide or contract to provide behavioral health observation stabilization services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Uh reasons for the sighting of the facility at this location.

Before you go on, I have a question about what you did. I I want to focus on the phrasing and do the the words uh which you have in bold uh and do not pose likelihood of serious harm. Can you explain how that is determined, what the process is, who does it, where it takes place?

Sure. We have clinical staff um that work at the crisis center who have expertise in assessment of people with behavioral health issues. And when they come in, there's a series of questions that they have to answer. Plus, they do a visual uh you know observation of the individual that comes in and can make a determination based on their clinical experience whether the person might pose any harm to themselves or others. So um what happens if somebody you determine somebody has uh poses ser the likelihood of serious?

Yeah. If there was any fear that the person posed any kind of serious harm to self or others, then we'd follow the protocol of calling an ambulance uh to bring them to the hospital for an evaluation for more of a medical evaluation than psychiatric evaluation. You'd call the ambulance for somebody who is just positing potentially violent. Well, the police are always always arrive with the ambulance, so the police would would come as well. So what if a person just shows up on their own not not saying I I would just ask it's very difficult to hear both the board with the community.

This is not a public hearing tonight so no one from the audience and I'll ask Bob to speak louder. Okay. Okay. Is this better? Can you hear? Okay. Um, so if somebody self uh inducts themselves uh into the uh center and they're agitated, they're you decide that they're potentially violent, um you will call an ambulance and in each case police come with the ambulance.

Yeah. But the the the explanation that I've been giving is that when people voluntarily come to the center, they're looking for help, even if they're agitated. The staff are highly trained in deescalation. So the Duchess Stabilization Center has had very few people that have come in and and agitation has escalated. It's usually they come in and they are deescalated when they come to the center. It's a voluntary facility. It's not a facility that people are being mandated to go to. So that's something I think people need to understand is that they're not just going to walk in angry just to be angry and attack people. They're coming in for help when they come to the stabilization center. Can you give me

I'm I'm still not comfortable with uh what I'm hearing about the odd case or the rare case when somebody is a risk of serious harm and you cannot talk them off the ledge and exactly what happens. It just seems um I mean if somebody was in my house to be frank and they were an obvious risk of being violent I would call police not an ambulance. Well as I was saying it would be police and ambulance that would come. I just want to be clear on that.

Is there a protocol that requires the police to be called? We have protocol. Yeah. To do that if there's escalation of of harm to the safety of the community or the people in the stabilization center. Yes. Okay. And and and the words say the likelihood of serious harm. What does serious harm actually harm to self or others is how it's stipulated in mental hygiene law. Can you give me a sense? I know you said highly trained personnel. Could I ask you to get your mic? Sorry. Highly trained personnel you mentioned. Can give me a flavor of what that means? Do they get certified? Do they have to go back for retraining after?

They're licensed clinicians, so they have a license to to provide services. The staff, the the peers uh are also certified. Um, everyone in the in the uh facility is certified in some way, whether it's nursing or whatever, but they are licensed and or certified to to serve, which means they have to go through extensive training to deal with deescalation. We are also the organization that trains police on the 40-hour crisis intervention team training so that they can understand and escalate people better in the communities. So we we have been really focused on deescalation, but we're also focused on improving people's quality of life at the same time.

How many staff members are typically on call or there? There would be a mental health counselor, there'd be a social worker uh andor a social worker. So it could be a counselor and or social worker. Peer specialists are there. Nursing staff is there. a certified crisis counselor or a certified um and credentialed uh substance use counselor is there um and a sometimes a youth peer advocate could be you know on or off and the RN the registered nurse and that's at all hours of the opening.

Yeah. So I would just note um we actually jumped ahead to answering another question that was responded to which identifies the training and licenses held by the staff that will be at the facility.

Right. So back to um the reason why the facility the sighting of the facility at this location this location was chosen as per feedback from Putinham County that karma both has the need for services and that it is centrally located to Putham County. The next question was what other locations were considered before selecting the proposed site based upon community need building size zoning laws market availability multiple locations have been assessed across the county including Putnham Hospital which was not selected because it was not appropriate. Um Brewster Southeast uh we were very optimistic about this location and successfully worked with the landlord on a potential lease. It should be noted that the individuals we served have recognized disabilities under the state and federal laws. However, the town of Southeast prejudged the application based upon the individuals we served. The town took actions that, in our opinion, violated federal discrimination laws to prohibit People USA as a tenant in their community. Other locations were considered but were not viable due to size, location, or availability. So, let me let me ask you, take a step back. You you brought up Putinham Hospital in your response.

Yes. Why is Putinham Hospital not

Good question. These were designed to be outside of hospitals. Hospitals are where most of the trauma and most of the damage that happens uh as far as marginalizing people that are seeking help happen. So the idea of stabilization centers are all off grounds or away from hospitals so that they are more of a community comfortable place to go like a med you know like an urgent care and these are people that again are not being mandated and the accessibility in the hospital was was wrong anyway. You had to walk into a doorway that uh originally was not open where they were looking you know allowing us to possibly rent. um the hospital doesn't own the building that we were looking at that is the hospital. So that that's another part of it and they had intentions of renting it to other people anyway. So they were entertaining us but at the same time we saw that it wasn't a fit. It doesn't fit the stabilization center model in New York State. So we we nixed on the uh on the hospital.

Yeah. because I there's an article that was published back when um you were looking at um Brewster and and it quotes the hospital president Mark Herko, I believe his name is, talking about how there was conversation, but then conversation stopped. But he he says here that he'd be happy to continue conversation with county leaders to find a right location. I mean, I I get it. But I understand an emergency room might not be the best venue for what you're doing. And but I mean is there no other space at the the complex where the hospital is that that work?

No, it it again it doesn't fit the model of a stabilization center which should be off the grounds of a hospital. There are no stabiliz Ry asked. Is it no other space and you went back to the model? So is I guess the question is is there space rather? Oh, there in the end there wasn't space. It wasn't suitable for the stabilization center at all. Okay. So, there was space, but it wasn't space that you could.

So, we had gone there. We met the president uh or the CEO of the hospital. They were very kind. They were showing us the place then told us they don't own it. So, that was one strike against us. And and then um it it also didn't fit the model and the accessibility was not good for that area. And then you also say in your answer that you know the county gave you feedback on you know the needs and where could I ask again if you got a little closer to your microphone. You also said that the county gave you feedback about the needs but your original focus was Brewster as opposed to Caramel. I don't think it's fair to say the original focus. I believe the client has looked all over the county for space

everywhere. We've heard comments about, well, there's plenty of vacant land. You need to find an individual willing to sell. You need to find an office space willing to rent. Those have been very few and far between, and it took a long time to find the two facilities that we felt that we had at least some lead on. So, getting back to the Southeast Brewster, what so no possibility of reopening that negotiation? I mean, if it was the right location. And I know also you said that Caramel quote unquote was central to Putnham County. It really isn't. It's in the upper right hand corner of Putnham County. It's a big county. So, is there anything else anywhere else? And can we not look?

We did an extensive search. We really did. I mean, this was three years in the making here. And and we just we went everywhere and we would look at everything. Yeah. So, what happened again with Brewster Southeast? Was that the moratorium? Yeah. They uh they adopted some land use moratorum and despite um my vigor in suing on that there was not and there was not appetite from Putnham County at that time to do to sue because I think we would have been more than successful. I I don't I don't follow you. There was not appetite from Putinham County to sue

because they've been providing this through ARPA funds. We are funded through our Putnham County for this project. Oh, okay. So, where's the funding stand today? You mentioned funding. Is the funding still a W is there time? It's still available. Yep, it's still available. It's still there. We have a contract with the county to to move ahead. I believe that was touched upon by the county executive when he was here in October. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. Um is the location of this facility as proposed a decision of people USA alone or are other agencies involved in the decision to site a facility in particular location? The decision is people USA is to site the service at the proposed location with an after an exhaustive review of the other potential locations as discussed above. We made this decision with support from Putnham County Department of Mental Health and the County Executive's Office. Are these standards for this sighting? Are there standards for the sighting of these facilities? There are regulations as to the programmatic operation of stabilization centers, but no standards for the physical site. Uh we're citing new new part 600 added to title 14 of the NYCRR. The standards of the physical site will be different in each county and community due to population and needs. What are proposed security measures? What are the qualifications of security personnel on site? We will contract with a security company that will work overnight shifts. They will likely do the 11 to 7 uh shift. Staff will train security personnel on deescalation techniques and use our internal crisis intervention trainers who are experienced on delivering crisis intervention trainings to law enforcement.

Additionally, yeah, excuse me. Um, why would you have the security company only at uh overnight hours and not all 24 hours? We we really haven't had the need. Um, as we had stated in Duchess County, they were citing their security in our facility for a while for 24/7. They're no longer there, but they are uh overnight. So, what what is it about overnight versus daytime? But what what what differentiates that for you in terms of need?

Well, you know, to be honest, we don't really need it. Um, we're doing it so that the community feels that it's it's a safer place in their community. Um, we we really don't feel the need for it. So, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Um, I'm I'm focusing on the hours. It seems that there's a concern that something could is more likely to happen or there's a risk of something happening at night that will not necessarily happen or there's not the same level of risk during the day. And I'd like to understand why

I think the client just respond to that in the sense that they don't feel it's necessary. However, they've been providing it in the evening hours as a matter of security. I think if we flipped it around, if we had offered 24 hours, then the question would be, well, why do you always need security there? We have indicated that the uh experience in Duchess County has stated that it is not needed on a regular basis. However, they have continued to provide it overnight. The Duchess County facility is not as close to residents as this one is though, correct? I would say if you walked, it would be the the distance from up the hill. I I live in that community myself. So, well, the houses around are pretty close to where that's going to be.

So, that's and but they're also flat street blocks to where it is here and not here in Pikipsy. Mhm. Okay. And so, to go back to the the the question about the security. So you you tell us that there's no need, but the spreadsheet that we got from the police chief, which was obtained from the um Pikipsy Police Department, indicated that during that period there were 52 calls for the police department to respond to the facility. That's not including ambulance. That's just police. Right. Okay. And and this was misrepresented because these were

If I can finish my question. Sure. So, what I'm saying is 52 calls for the police to me suggests that perhaps there is a need for security. I'm just throwing it out there, you know. Um, I think that that's certainly an indication, not not proof positive, but an indication that perhaps security would be helpful. Um, good point. Okay, move on. What I what hours were you referencing the 52? What hours? Yeah, you said during that period there were 52 during the time period. This is they gave us an Excel spreadsheet that has approximately I believe it was a yearly.

Yes, I believe it was a annual look.

Hi. So, I'm Cheryl Spencer Frost. I'm the both the identified director for the stabilization center. Um but I also do data um from People USA and we did address um the spreadsheet when it did come up um initially I think back in October. Um so the 52 calls that you're talking about for the police assistance um were over a period of about 20 months um from the beginning of 2024 until I think the end of August of 2025. Um, so including all of the EMS calls and the calls for police assistance for Duchess County, that came to about eight calls on average per month and taking the ratio for the population for Duchess County. And then the population for Putham County, taking those eight calls a month, um, it would average about three calls a month if we use Duchess as the model. But you're not restricting um uh clients as you refer to them. You're not restricting them to Putnham County.

No, but we also don't restrict in Duchess County either. Um any transportation that is provided to come to the stabilization center has to be from in county. Um we don't provide transportation for somebody that is out of county to come to our stabilization center. Um because this is the catchment for us is Putnham County. If somebody walks into the facility that is outside of Putnham County, we will absolutely see them and support them in that moment. Um but we do not bring people from out of the area to the center.

But if Westchester or the Bronx calls up and says we have overflow, we need to put bring somebody up to you. Will you take them? We'll ship them to you. Will you take them? So there are re there will there are and will be resources in say Westchester. We are opening a stabilization center in Westchester. There's what two more opening in Westchester as well. Um so my question I believe she's getting to the answer of just wait a moment sir.

So if somebody calls us from out of our catchment area and needs the resource and says I don't know what to do. We will direct them to their local resources. And what if they say they're full? I need to bring them to you. Which is what we heard goes on at the Duchess County facility. I thought what do you I'm sorry. Where where did you get that information? I think from previous discussions here

there is there is no overflow um from any of these facilities and any of the facilities that you're talking about um such as a facility in Westchester or another another place they have their own policies and procedures for any overflow um or any outside of their capacity that would not include directing to our facility because that would not be an appropriate use of um our facility. I' I'd also like to add that a hospital or other crisis facility is not going to utilize a supported stabilization center if they're overflow. That's never happened. I mean, that's that would be going backwards. So, the hospitals are the ones that are handling any overflow in in crisis.

Okay, please continue. Okay. Um, do these facilities have documented impact on community character? This question is difficult to answer as community character does not have one standard meaning. Different individuals can have different interpretations as to what defines their community character. We also respectfully note our objection to the implication in this question that providing needed services to the family, friends, and neighbors in any community would have a negative impact. To our knowledge, no studies have been conducted to measure any negative in impact on communities. We can provide written testimony from the office of mental health as to why they support the crisis stabilization center model in New York State. What impact do these facilities have on surrounding businesses and the local economy? Having unique crisis services in Putnham County, such as the proposed stabilization center, in addition to our existing mobile crisis team, serve to have a positive impact on businesses in the local community. Feedback from community members described local law enforcement and emergency services having to intervene on individuals causing a disrupt a disruption to local businesses. The stabilization center would be a resource for these individuals, giving them a place to go where they will receive the care they need.

So I I just want to ask you on that one. Sure. I'm a little confused. So, are you saying that people who disrupt the community would have the ability to say walk over and go to your crisis center or are you saying your mobile crisis team would go out and intervene? The mobile crisis team would go out and engage and have conversation with that individual and if they got to a level where they felt that the stabilization center is appropriate for them and the person volunteered that they would go to it then they would take them with them. Okay. Do you get dispatched through 911?

Do we? Um, we get dispatched through the help line uh which is in the 911 facility. So there's been training in Westchester and Duchess County that we've done where we've trained the um the warmline or hotline staff with the 911 staff and they've colllocated that so that there is conversation around um when they can you know reach out to the stabilization center with the appropriate level of of care. So so if a business owner in Putinham Plaza felt they needed help, how would they go about getting it? They can. Well, they'd have to they'd have to call the mobile team, but they would call 911 probably, right? I would imagine.

So, um I also oversee the mobile team

um that we run in Putnham County. Uh so, we don't have um a direct dis direct dispatch um like dispatch will not make the decision to call the mobile team, but if the officers that are on scene um make a request for the mobile team to be present, then dispatch can call us. It is up to the officer's discretion that are on scene. Uh we also work very closely with the co-responder team with the sheriff's office. Um and we're open to any referrals um from any source, you know, not exclusively law enforcement. Um and you know, we will be working with, you know, very closely with the stabilization center. Um and we are currently working very closely with the county and the law enforcement partners. So yes, if somebody has um an issue and either whether the police are on scene or whether they um want to call the mobile team directly to have somebody come out to talk to a person in crisis, we're absolutely able to do that.

So the police are most likely your phone call them them calling you. Yeah. I mean it's some of and some of it is just a knowledge base um for the you know the businesses and the larger community that they may not know about this resource um in general. Um but law enforcement has um definitely had some education on it and we do have a marketing plan once approved that we can educate the community on the services available. So it doesn't have to be the police. No. Say a local business can call you guys directly.

Anybody can call. Yeah, anybody can make a referral. It can be the participant, the person themselves. It can be a person you may just be concerned about somebody. Um, and then, you know, the mobile team will be that response in the community. Um, and then we make the determination of, you know, what is the best plan for this person and how safe are they for themselves and somebody else? And it's again a licensed clinician that is making that determination on site with this person. Um so you know I don't want to confound too much with the stabilization site um but it is something that we you know are able to work closely with the mobile team and the stabilization center.

So you mentioned um if somebody calls whether it's the person or a business owner if the person doesn't want to go to the stabilization center what's the next step? So they're in some kind of crisis and you recognize that because to your point the clinicians are there and they say no I don't want to go there. What what happens then? Well, I mean, it's it depends on what all the precipitating factors are with that person and what they're looking for and what they need. Um, it's not necessarily like a hardline answer of, you know, this is, you know, this person shows up here, they give us these answers and it's not a formulaic response.

Um, so it's really working to move them on to the next best step for them. Um, and that would be, you know, if it's a local business calling to help move that person on to where they need to be. And this is why you have clinicians doing the job because they can assess these folks and it's always a case by case. And we have mobile teams in Westchester and and here and it's always a different situation. I understand that. But you also said it's voluntary that they come to you. The center is the center is voluntary. Yes. But if they no, I'm not going. I'm not going and they, you know, cause a you know some kind of commotion, what happens then? and then police just take over.

If if that's the case, I mean, it's it's really, you know, the whole reason for us to be in the community with the mobile team is to deescalate and get people to uh at least accept help. Um if sometimes you may not be able to and and if that's the case, then it goes to the next level. And if that's police or if it's uh a 941 or or mental hygiene law factor or whatever, that gets followed. I mean, that's always been here. There's there's nothing different with that.

I'm confused about something. Um, you say that the use of your crisis center is entirely voluntary on the part of, uh, people. Uh, at one of our previous meetings, um, we received a copy of the, um, explanation of New York's 2023 bail reform amendments. And I'm going to read the uh point out loud. In turn, the 2020 amendments added mandatory programming. This is a discussion about when judges can lay on um uh conditions beyond bail uh in terms of somebody's potential release to the public pending trial. The 2020 amendments added mandatory programming as an available non-monetary condition and defined such programming to include counseling, treatment, and intimate intimate partner violence intervention programs. The 2023 amendments further clarified that treatment includes mental health and chemical dependence treatment as well as g as well as gave judges the option to refer people to crisis stabilization centers. So it seems to me um certainly without being an expert in that area that um there's going to be some portion some number of people who are as a condition to their being released without bail or on bail um that uh uh they have to attend a crisis stabilization center.

They can't under part 600 they cannot by law be mandated to a crisis stabilization center. They can't. So, you're saying this is wrong? It's wrong. Um, I would also note that you're stating that a judge would mandate to a crisis. These are 23-hour 59. Oh, you know what? You're talking about a CP CPEP. That's what they're determining in crisis stabilization center. New York State is a comprehensive psychiatric emergency program which is very different from a stabilization center. They worded it wrong but that's what they're talking about are the CPAPs in New York State.

So you are saying that you will never have a client that is required to come to you by virtue of a judge's yes uh decision in the context of a criminal proceeding. Absolutely. Go right ahead.

Hi, thank you. Um, I'm Tammy Robson. I'm the assistant vice president of crisis services at People USA and I've been a part of crisis stabilization center since January of 2021. So, that is correct that we have never had anyone who has been mandated to our center in the five years that I've been there. This is a completely voluntary placement. And if I can just kind of go back to something earlier as far as the danger to self and others. We were focusing on that a lot and I I just want to identify that typically when we're using that terminology. I'm a licensed clinical social worker. That terminology is referring to individuals who are thinking of harming themselves and at risk for suicide. So that is primarily what our assessments are doing. So with with that wording in clinical terminology serious harm to yourself or others it is focused on someone who is in imminent risk of harm to themselves and there are as we had said parameters to get individuals assistance if beyond our crisis center they need a higher level of care

but it can include someone who is a risk of harm to others. Typically, if somebody is in a state of crisis, I I think it's important for us to look at the word crisis. We are identifying that these are individuals in our community who are angry, who are upset, who are having behavioral issues. These are individuals just like everyone in this room. These are individuals. These are our family members. So, these are not individuals who are violent and aggressive. Do we have individuals who sometimes get upset because their needs aren't being met in the community or they have losses in their life? Absolutely. But we're all there with them and we're helping them through that process. I've never been fearful for my safety in the five years I've been there.

Thank you. But yet we heard there were 52 police calls over the course of 20 months, right? So what were those calls for? And I would have to look at the specifics of that. In Duchess County, I can say if we call for an ambulance, say somebody wants to voluntarily go to the hospital. They need inpatient treatment. We typically would try to call the ambulance directly. Oftent times the ambulance doesn't have the resources to come directly. So we then have to call 911. It's part of the policy and procedure. When you call 911, ambulance comes, police come.

Well, actually what we were told in Pakypy is that when an ambulance is requested, police do not automatically come. So that would have to be a separate request. If you call the ambulance directly, so forgive me, I don't know the ambulance off the top of my head, but when you call the ambulance directly, they'll say, "We don't have the resources. You need to call 911." They'll dispatch the ambulance. So that's often the situation that we run to and when 911 dispatches the am uh the ambulance police respond. It's not exactly my understanding but okay. Please continue.

Okay. What are the admittance and release protocols? Arrivals. There is no referral necessary to be welcomed into the center. Uh visits to the center are entirely voluntary. Individuals may be voluntarily referred to the center by schools, other crisis services, law enforcement, social services, mental health, substance use treatment providers, or may be self-referred. The cent's policy is a no wrong door approach and will triage, screen, and assess all individuals who arrive voluntarily to the center. The center can connect individuals with community resources and services as appropriate to guest assess needs. The center does not offer shelter services and will refer guests to local shelter resources or social services when presenting for shelter. Service transition is uh transition planning is perfor informed by all interventions, screenings and assessments. Guest choice is always respected and accommodated except in cases of imminent safety concerns. Stabilization center has clear policies and procedures surrounding clinical risk assessment protocols which include 247 access to an administrator on call for consultation and oversight. Guests will be given linkages to community resources with staff's commun recommendation for the most appropriate level of care. Guests and staff will come to a shared agreement regarding the guest discharge plan. Guests will all be provided transportation back to their residents or warm handoff to the next step in their discharge plan which could be another provider or service.

Excuse me. Um question about that. Um the the point about the guest and staff will come to a shared agreement regarding the guest discharge plan. So, let's assume someone has been there for 23 hours and 55 minutes and they're not um they're not agreeing with you as to what the next step should be. Um do I assume if they don't come to agreement, they walk out the door at hour 24? No.

What happens? They would either be transported back to their residence or if there was a higher level of need there, then the staff would create get the uh

person walked in off the street um whatever the experience is, it didn't work out for them. Um or they're brought there by a relative or whatever. Um and what if they don't want the transportation that you're offering? What if they don't want to go? I mean, we're talking about people who could potentially be, you said it, you know, the your other colleagues said it themselves. They could be angry. They could be distraught, agitated. They just don't agree. They don't want to do what you want them to do. What happens?

Like I said, they would be assessed and they would either be transported back to wherever they came from. Person says, "I don't want to go. Where are you attending?" Still answering your question. What am I doing? I He interrupted you as you were answering the question. Yeah. I mean, it's it's it's a common sense approach to caring for people when if they come to the center and they're willing to stay and work with us and talk with us and at the end they say, "I don't want that." We're we'll say, "Okay, so we're going to bring you back home." And if the person says, "I don't want to go home." Yeah. contagious.

So, um, coming from the our clinical process, as somebody enters our door, I think it's really important to know from the moment somebody comes through our door, we're assessing what are your needs, what are what are you looking for? How do we accomplish that? So, we're not waiting till hour 23 to come to some decision. There's consistent engagement. often most people are at our center less than six hours on majority probably between like three to four hours and that's enough time for us to engage make a connection so I think it's really important to note there is consistent engagement somebody isn't sitting in a room alone and then 23 hours later we're trying to come up with a plan that discharge planning and best practice approaches happens from the moment somebody enters our door

I I guess What I'm doing is coming at it from the point of view of despite your best intentions and all your skills and all your efforts, things don't go as planned. It happens. Um, I think we've heard from the community a lot of concern about people going in and then coming back out into the immediate physical area around you. And are you saying 100% of the time that will never occur?

I'm saying that nobody is leaving our center without a plan. So we have a lot of collaborations, a lot of partnerships. We're making connections. Oftent times it may be treatment centers outside of our facility. We're doing warm handoffs. And the one thing that we've never talked about is we don't just engage with that person on that day. We follow up with somebody for 30 days afterwards. So, we're having consistent engagement with this individual to make sure if we've made any connections for them, those connections were sus successful, their needs were met, that they're not in a ongoing state of crisis. So, there's ongoing followup that's happening as well. I I understand that that's the goal, but are you standing here and saying that there's never been a case where somebody has walked out of the Duchess facility because they just don't want to cooperate anymore or participate?

Yeah. And and that's they're right. But nobody is walking nobody is walking out of our center that is a danger to themselves or anybody else. So you may come into our center and you may think you want some support and then you decide you don't. If you're not posing any risk to yourself or somebody else, you have the right to walk out the door. If you have if we've assessed there's a danger and a risk, we're going to be calling the mobile team. We're going to be calling somebody. And that's somebody who may be in need and not ready for help. And that's why the stabilization center is not the appropriate place for them because it's a place for people who are voluntarily looking for support and help and engagement. It's important to remember that this is not a standalone service that doesn't exist without a network of teams, supporters, and providers that all work together to get people to the right location.

I I just want to say that I I was the one that brought stabilization centers to New York State. I researched around the country and different parts of the world because so many people that do look for help go to emergency rooms. They get marginalized. They get treated poorly and they come out without a plan, without a followup, without anything. Those are the folks that leave agitated and go out and do something that could be dangerous to themselves or others. Imagine a place that you go to where people will smile at you and welcome you regardless of your addiction or your mental health issue and say, "We're here to help. We're glad you're here." Hospitals don't say, "We're glad you're here." I designed this because I wanted this to be an experience for people that want help to get help. I wanted families to understand that they're not alone when they bring their child to a crisis facility because we'll work with the families as well to educate them on how to work with their children. This was created, you know, we have a lot of what if questions that can and and when I first designed it, I got every what if question that I'm being asked here today. And the thing I said was, what if people come and they heal? What if people come and get better service? What if people come and get to a better quality of life because they didn't go through the trauma of our traditional system which exists right here in Putham County. Our hospital is not the best hospital for people to go to or to be people people to walk out of. This was created as a step for voluntary service to help people and truly help them and follow them because hospitals don't follow you either after you leave. We do. I felt that was so important to call someone after they come to the center to say, "Hey, you came in yesterday. How are you doing today? What can we do for you today?" There's so many positive aspects of this service that we want to

bring to this community and and it's just it's difficult for me to have done all this great work in our country and in our state and and have so such a difficult time trying to explain you're getting a service that is gold standard. this is what this is going to be for this community. And I just wish you can keep that in mind as I answer these questions. I I I don't think there's a whole lot of push back on what it does and how good it could be, has been, will be, whatever. I think it's the location. That's really what people are concerned about.

Please, no, no more side conversations. Very disrespectful to the people. Plus, we just can't hear. I'm sorry. I think you brings up a very valid point. That's the issue. Honestly, I I think if you ask anybody, although we're not asking people because it's not a public hearing, I think nobody would say, "Oh, no, it's not a good idea." It's where it's going to be is the bad idea. I can say that we're not the only stabilization center trying to get into a location. Just about everyone is getting a push back because people don't understand it. If people understood it, it would be a totally different story here. But we already have the methadone clinic not far away and that's caused some issues. You know we've had that's the methodone clinic though. I mean

I understand that but it's also people who are not stable or you know have been drug users or whatever and just to have something else not so similar but not so different. I think that's what's causing the issue. It's not what you do and how well it gets done and the results. It's where it's going to be where it's proposed to be. Thank you. Okay. Please continue. Are you done? Yeah, I I can I did the uh staffing already. So, the question was how will the facility be funded and do funding levels vary? If funding is reduced in the future, how would that impact the operation of the facility? Can we go back um I'm not sure if this is what you're referring to as staffing, but uh

yeah, the the cap on the maximum number of patients. I'd like to ask a couple questions about that. Oh, I'm sorry. Yeah. Will this facility have a cap on the maximum number of patients? Um, an average of eight identified guests can be served at one time at the stabilization center in the likely unlikely event that there are more than eight waiting for services uh at once. Uh staff can utilize other people USA services such as our mobile team in our crisis respit house.

So let's again assuming a worst case scenario uh 11:00 at night, midnight, something's in the air that night. all of a sudden 12 people show up. Um, you're now over eight. Can you explain the specific process and timing of how those extra four people get parcled out elsewhere? So unlikely u but if it did happen uh the respit house would be contacted and people would be able to utilize that and then the mobile team would be in assisting with the transportation. What does that mean? You say respit house will be contacted. We we operate. Where is it?

Yeah, it's in Garrison. And how long would it take for somebody to be moved from your facility over to Garrison? Well, I mean it would be a phone call to the mobile team which they dispatch within minutes and get them to the uh the center and and and move people if needed. So the mobile team is on tap 24 hours to service an event like that. Yeah. Where is the mobile team stationed? In other words, when they're not activated, where are they? They're at They're at our Rose House in Garrison.

Yeah, they they will be based at the center eventually, but they're at the Putnham or the Garrison House. Um Okay. I think you were on the next page because you went through Yeah, I went through the staffing. Um, how will it be funded? Um, so we're receiving startup funds from Putnham County. Once licensed in an operation, uh, it'll be self- sustaining by using re insurance reimbursement. Who whose insurance is that? It's Medicaid. And actually, we just um made our first contract with private insurance as well. So, that'll be the goal is to continue to expand the insurance possibilities.

So, um, Forgive me if I don't have my facts entirely right, but when I think Medicaid, I think somebody who qualifies for Medicaid, meaning they're not otherwise insured. Um, and if somebody is insured, let's assume, you know, they're they have a person who has a job who has insurance through his employer, your services will be covered by definition by any New York state approved insurance. Well, we're we're working out those negotiations now. We finally got our first contract and now we're moving on to other

So, you have to go insurance company by insurance company. Yeah. So, what happens if your guests fall between the cracks of what you have? What you don't have? There's no charge. No charge. Yeah. Um All right. Uh will the facility pay taxes? Um we're renting the space, so it would be up the landlord to pay the taxes on the on the space. I just have to note a legal objection on the record to that question being asked just for purposes of our record. Which question? We have answered it. Which question?

Uh about the taxes because that's um in my opinion not a lawful reason to make a land use decision about a use. So I just note it for the record.

Um there is an overabundance of mental health and substance use facilities in the area. How does the town of Carmel compare to other towns in Putnham County in regards to the number of such facilities? We respectfully disagree that there is an overabundance of services in Carmel. Carmel was identified as an area of need in our conversations with the county. The stabilization center is a crisis facility and there are no other crisis facilities in Carmel or Putnham County other than the hospital. The stabilization center is also not a residential treatment center. What additional burden will be placed on emergency service providers? People USA and Putnham County have discussed and addressed any questions regarding emergency services use and concerns with the Carmel Police and Putnham County Sheriff's Office. People USA's program director will be available to the Carmel Police and Sheriff's Office to discuss ongoing collaboration with emergency services. And that's all the questions. Any other I know we had a dialogue along the way. Uh any other questions from the board?

I did have one more question. You talk about the payments and insurance and whether or not Medicare Medicaid will pick it up. Is there any possibility of any of this ever coming back to the taxpayers of Putnham County to fund this facility? Not that I believe uh would be. Has it happened in Duchess or anywhere else that you're aware of? No. In fact, we've reduced the uh county county was paying for the center 100%. Um this year they're paying uh half and next year it'll go down more because the insurance is creating sustainability. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Any questions from the consultants? Any questions from the board members? Where in Westchester are the facilities you're proposing or existing?

Right now we're looking at Kona. So we're negotiating with the landlord there. Is it just be that one in Westchester or We will operate that one. There's two others that are uh going to operate as well. Providers, do you know where they are in Westchester? Bronx, I think is one or not Bronx. What am I saying? Mount Vernon. Um and God, where was the Yeah, I wasn't talking about Bronx, but anyway, there's there's one other I don't know where exactly. Okay.

So, you just mentioned about Duchess with the funding. So you you mentioned earlier and it was somewhere that the county has allocated a certain amount of money from I think the COVID relief to start your business to get you guys started. Is there any discussions about year two of possibly the county we have a three-year budget plan that we've created that shows the sustainability of the uh of the project? No. My question is is has the county committed to funding you in year two and year three? Yeah, the funding would go into year two, year three. we would be on our own. Okay. Is that 100% funded from the county for the first three years?

Uh no, because we'll get our license immediately and start billing as well. So, it'll the the supplemental funds will start right away. So, look, there was a good dialogue tonight. Uh my recommendation tonight is that uh give the board some time to think about all the dialogue. There's a lot to think about. And Pat, can I ask you to prepare a positive and a negative resolution for the next meeting? And the next meeting uh will be a voting meeting. So Mr. Chairman, the uh Miss Vog has given an extension with respect to a decision by the board to February 19th. So as long as we hold a meeting prior to that date, uh no further extensions are necessary.

As far as I know, the next meeting will be the fourth Wednesday in January. January 28th is my understanding from your website. Right. There you go. So, we're good. Yep. Thanks. Thanks, Joe. Good point. Okay. Thank you for your time and patience tonight. I appreciate it. Thank you. There's no questions from the board tonight. Can you give us something? Yeah. The answer is no. The the public the public hearing has been closed. She can submit anything that she wants to secretary. A lot of people during the week send notes and emails to Rose. You can send it to Rose. I'm not going to look at it tonight anyway. Give it to Rose.

Thank you.

The p the public hearing we were very generous. We we would you can send anything you want. You can send anything you want to Rose the secretary of the planning board. We were very very generous with uh the public hearings as you know. Just so the record is clear the public hearing uh we've had two uh hearings. Uh they've been closed. The public comment written comment period is likewise closed. Mhm. The only thing that remains for the board to do with respect to this application is to vote it. There you go.

Thank you everybody. We're going on to the next topic tonight.

I couldn't understand. We've discussed that 100 times. No one. We discussed that 100 times.

Tony. Thank you. Next on the agenda, this I know it's hard. We're not allowed to. The meeting's cool. You've had plenty of time to speak. We've had two public hearing. We've had two public hearings. We've had two public hearings and we've had uh written in comments for 10 days. Send things to words. Thank you. We feel bad that you didn't get to speak, but You're welcome.

We've had Next on the agenda, Greenpoint Tree Service 61 and 65 Old Route 6. Hello, Paul. Good evening. security.

Tough to tough show to follow. That's what I'm saying. Greenpoint Tree Service 61 and 650 Route 6. Mike, I believe you have some comments. Yeah, the necessary variances are granted by the zoning board of appeals on December 4th and they are noted on the plat. Thank you, Rich.

So, I met with Paul just recently uh about a water and uh water shutdown plan. So, he's developing that right now. He's um provided water and waste water. has provided uh you know notation of the referrals and comment uh and permits needed. Uh it's just a matter of um really getting that water waste uh the water shutdown plan going so that we know that we're able to isolate the area and he's able to tap into the system and uh Pat and no issues Mr. Mr Chairman, as you know, you've selected the alternative you preferred. Paul has now engineered that alternative. They have their variances, so you can move forward with this application. Have we seen a rendering on this building?

Yes, we've given you a couple of different varieties. Right. Yeah. I didn't bring one tonight because I but I'll bring one next time. And one of the issues, Mr. Chairman, was asking them to enhance the landscaping, which they've done to the extent they can. So there's little planters between each of those parking spaces and so I remember talking about there's not a lot of room to do it and the storm water bases basins in the front of the property. So there's not a large area to plant in. Yep. So there's limited.

I was just going to say actually the storm water planters in front of the buildings are actually about 200 square feet. So they are fairly large. So they break up each individual unit and they will be planted with wetland plants and shrubbery and that sort of stuff. We did have the discussion because remember we were saying it is a commercial area but we still want it industrial area actually but we still want it to look nice. Uh any comments uh from the board here? Otherwise I believe we need to schedule a public hearing. Do we have a motion? I make a motion to schedule public hearing. Second. All in favor? I just bring renderings for that public hearing. Yes. I'll bring the renderings back. That might come up from the Yes.

Good point, Mike. Thank you. Next on the agenda is Liberty Bell Trucking 39 and 47 Old Route 6 right down the street. Mike. Yeah, there are three variances needed from the zoning board of appeals. Um provide an easement for the access across lot one. There are driveway cuts across the adjacent lot to get in and provide floor plans and elevations so that the board can see what these buildings are going to look like. There's two buildings going up there. uh n 5900 and 5,000 foot buildings. Actually, Mike, I think you probably didn't get the submitt because I I did drop those off, so it must not have made its way to you. What did I get?

The building elevations. Oh, okay. Yeah. So, they were submitted. So, they do exist. Good. And Rich,

so um they've submitted a water and wastewater report for review. They've um they referrals are needed for the DEEC, ECB, Putnham County Department of Planning, Department of Highway, Karma Fire Department. Regulatory permits would be for state for storm water and wetlands. Uh D possibly for storm water ECB water connection sewer connection permits in town highway. The project does disturb over an acre requires coverage under uh the permit uh with a SWIP. Uh so uh they may be required to supply a stormwater maintenance agreement or public improvements with performance bonded engineering fees. There are other detailed comments. So when I met with Paul the other day, he knows that he has to develop a water connection uh permit and system work plan. So similar, it's right up the block from or actually adjacent to Greenpoint. So he's going to be looking at that. Also, there are easements on this property. These should be provided and reviewed by planning council. Uh all the planting should be verified uh by the caramel wetlands inspector. No, it should be added to the drawing. Traffic vehicle moving uh all that kind of uh turning radi should be provided on the drawing. Sidewalks and manholes, roadway specifications, all the detailed per uh items are can be provided to Paul via the memo. But it's fairly standard stuff when it comes to water connections and then uh everything else that we have to do. Thank you, Rich. And uh Pat,

and we're basically okay with this. We're ready to go to the zoning board basically with it. Um the elevations are pretty basic. Paul, if you could punch those up a little bit. We we that we can do. So it was a starting point. Yeah. So we can work on that during the course of the process. That would be very helpful. Any comments from the board? Not yet. So Paul, we're happy to do things in parallel, send to the zoning board, but I'm looking at two tight green pages of comments. So you need to work on those. Otherwise, when it comes back, we won't go any further. The nuts and bolts aspect of it. A lot of it has already been done for Greenpoint. So a lot of it is just taking that information and putting it over on this property. So

that's one of the reasons why we're willing to send it over to the zoning board. But let's get we'll do that. Let's get these comments down and satisfy Mike Rich and Pat there a little bit. Okay. All right. Do we have a motion to send to zoning board? I'll make a motion to deny to the zoning board. I second. All in favor?

I Thank you.

Thank you. Next on the agenda is Bunet subdivision 105 PIC road for sketch site plan review two lots. This has been around for a while also. Uh Mike. Yeah. The necessary variances were granted on December 4th and they are noted on the plan. Rich

applicant has noted the necessary referrals. Applicant has noted the need for a stormwater pollution prevention plan. Uh if there's any public improvements, they will need to provide a performance bond engineering fee. Stormwater bond and maintenance may be required. Uh and they will need to um you know for preliminary plat approval they need to just go through our you know the next step and put all that information that we need together to get there. So and Pat

and there really are no planning issues. You could see from the plat two rectangularly shaped lots. They're orderly. They're regularly shaped. Um it was about the variances. The variances have been granted. This is a minor subdivision. So this can go directly to final approval if you choose to make that leap. Um and in this case, there's no reason why you couldn't do that. Correct. Right. Correct. But we have not had a public hearing on this. Right. So what you would do is the next step would be to schedule a public hearing and direct Paul to prepare the final plot, not a preliminary plot. So we need a motion to to approve the grant um the sketch first. Yeah. We normally don't grant sketch plan approval. We advance it to the next stage. So you can advance it all the way to final approval. I'm okay with that. Just as long as we don't bypass the public hearing.

Yeah. Because there's so much fun. If you need to speak, you can come up and state your name. I'm sorry, Pat. I missed that. I was being snarky about the the enjoyment of public hearings. Actually, no one came to the ZBA meeting, so we had no public show up for that hearing. I just want to just Yeah, we don't expect anything. Mark Bunet. Um I thought this I thought the letters were sent out to the the neighbors that this was going to be the public hearing tonight. Voting. No, no, no, no, no. That was last that was last month where we had the ZBA meeting. Oh, letters were sent for the ZBA meeting as well. Okay. Yes. I'm sorry.

So, motion to grant sketch plan approval. I'll make a motion to grant sketch plan approval. Second. All in favor? I. And do we have a motion to schedule a public hearing? Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to uh schedule a public hearing for Pigot. I second. All in favor? I. Thank you. Thank you. And you're allowing him to go right to final? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Like Pat said, it's pretty clean. Another one that's been around for a while is Cass Subdivision, 90 Mexico Lane for an extension of final subdivision. We're on for our second extension. How come?

The plat has been sitting in the Putinham County Health Department for about two months and it has not been reviewed. And if I can't get a review and whatever minor revisions I got to make to it, I can't bring it to you for signature. Mike, I don't believe you had any comments, did you? I do not. I was just going to say why, but Rich? No, no objection to granting the extension. And uh Pat, yeah, it's not false to help. So this would be 180 days, the six months, right? So stay on it the best you can. I'm actually heading over tomorrow to meet down, you know, sit down with them because actually I have three projects that are sitting there that just are just treading water.

Any comments from the board? Good luck. Well, this is this is one of the reasons why with like Gilmore, another two lot subdivision, which we're ready for resolution and I held off on that is because I I know there's just this time lag to get things through the regulatory process. So I am through the health department with Gilmore. So that will be coming back for the final resolution. So that can get done within that, you know, the six-month time clock. But I I think that's a tactic

point. You know, it's it's extension extension expired reapproval significant fee on the part of an applicant all because the health department didn't get around to something. So the system isn't quite working. It's not our fault. It's somebody else's system, but it lays into our system and potentially it's a burden to applicants. Is that prevalent in the uh county and the state? So, health departments are never prompt. I think that's a fair fair comment to say, but ours is great. Ours is actually good. Westchester is awful right now. But it's a long time period. Yeah. Let's let's we I can't control that.

Let's move ahead. Uh do we have a motion to grant 180day um extension? I will make a motion to grant 180day extension. Second. All in favor? I. Thank you very much. You're welcome. And then uh is anyone from Viola here? No show for them at the moment. Well, then we're going to hold them over. I know Rich the Bond return, but I don't want to move forward without them here. Rich, we're going to hold them over. They're not here. That's fine. Okay. Good night. Good night. Good night.

Uh, good night. Paul Rose distributed the meetings of uh the minutes of uh December 11th, 2025. Uh, has anyone had an opportunity to review those? M. Mr. Chairman, I read them, reviewed them, and made some minor comments. I uh uh make a motion to approve the minutes. Subject to those comments. I will make a motion. All in favor that I I sorry. And do we have a motion to adjourn? Nick, you want to make a motion to adjourn? Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to adjourn the uh meeting of December or December January 8th, 2026. Second. All in favor? Hi. Good night everybody.